By Prajjal Saha
Advertising

Cannes 2007: India has 8 shortlists in Direct Lions

O&M and JWT have two shortlisted entries each for Direct Lions, while Everest Brand Solutions, Contract, Fortune, and Vyas Giannetti Creative have one each

O&M, JWT are going to fight it out, and so are Everest Brand Solutions, Contract, Fortune, and Vyas Giannetti Creative. These agencies have been shortlisted for Direct Lions at the 57th International Advertising Festival, Cannes, 2007. Both JWT Mumbai, and Ogilvy Bangalore have two entries in the short-list for the Direct Lions, while the other four agencies have one each.

JWT’s shortlist has come for its campaign – ‘Tyres that stick’ – for Apollo Tyres in two categories – ‘Cars and Automotive Services’ and ‘Dimensional Mailing’. In the ‘Dimensional Mailing’ category, JWT will have to compete with two other Indian agencies – first its sister agency Fortune and the second Ogilvy Bangalore.

Fortune Communications, Mumbai, which is JWT’s second agency, got shortlisted for its campaign titled ‘Bottle’ for its client Aquasail yachts and power boats, while O&M Bangalore has made it to the shortlist for its work – The levitating laptop – for Lenovo.

Cannes 2007: India has 8 shortlists in Direct Lions
The second shortlist for O&M Bangalore is for its much-appreciated work on Hutch Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival. O&M planted theatre actors at popular public places in Bangalore – restaurants, malls, cafés, traffic signals and parks. The actors blended in with the crowd and then started their act, in both English and Kannada. They would create a scene of sorts, attracting the attention of the onlookers. For instance, one man in a café accused another of staring at his girlfriend, while another woman hurled a glass of water at her boyfriend/husband for talking to other girls in her presence.

Once everyone was glued to the drama, someone from the Hutch team walked around with a placard that read, ‘For more drama, come to Ranga Shankara’. This particular direct marketing initiative has already won a few awards in the national circuit.

Meanwhile, Everest Mumbai has been selected for its work, ‘Demo CD’ for Cambridge Audio System, The Soundsmiths. This entry has been shortlisted in the ‘Other Consumer Products’ category.

Contract, Delhi’s campaign ‘Slim Zone’ for its client Slim Zone has been shortlisted in the Travel Entertainment and leisure category, while VGC has been shortlisted for The Profiler, a recruitment agency. The shortlisted entry is titled ‘Business Cards’.

This year, India had as many as 80 entries. In comparison, last year, there were 47 entries in this category, and Rediffusion DY&R had bagged a silver for its work on Midland Book Shop.

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